Abstract
The rapid proliferation of social media has dramatically impacted many aspects of our daily lives. In particular, through the utilisation of social media platforms, social media has transformed the landscape of social movements. While there have been several studies conducted to determine the relationship between online social media activism and offline activism, these studies have not demonstrated sufficient evidence to establish a direct link between these forms of activism. To further understand this relationship, this study employed the perceptual variables of problem recognition, constraint recognition and involvement recognition, as outlined by the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS). Additionally, many of these studies have not sufficiently analysed the role played by slacktivism in social movements. Instead, a multitude of studies undermine slacktivism altogether, implying that it is unimportant and ineffective.
Through the examination of the #AmINext movement on Twitter, the study was able to examine social media as a tool to influence offline protest participation in the #AmINext movement. This was facilitated through a quantitative research approach, and entailed data collection using a structured questionnaire. Through a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling, a total of n=178 respondents participated in this study. These participants were located in South Africa and had participated in the #AmINext Movement on Twitter in 2019.
The findings reveal that 54.1% of the respondents have participated in one or more in-person protest for the #AmINext movement. Whilst it may be commonplace to dismiss the remaining 45.9% of respondents as being slacktivists, it is important to consider that they too have played an important role in online activist activities. Additional findings indicate there was a high level of knowledge about the #AmINext movement. As such, while these respondents are not part of offline protest actions, they do play a role in raising awareness and amplifying messaging for the #AmINext movement. Moreover, it is important to note that a lack of offline protest participation does not imply that these respondents would not form part of future in-person protest actions. The majority assert that they would participate in future protest action against gender-based violence in South Africa.
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The study recommends that slacktivism should be viewed as a legitimate form of activism, and a contributor to change in an offline capacity. Furthermore, while the ultimate goal of online activism is awareness, the #AmINext movement is proof that offline protest participation is a necessary part of affecting meaningful change. In this regard, online and offline protest participation can be considered to have a complementary relationship.